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Giants rookie Avery Moss eager to learn from veterans

Giants rookie defensive end Avery Moss, who was selected in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, speaks to the media during the first day of rookie minicamp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on Friday, May 12, 2017. Photo Credit: James Escher

Avery Moss has played at two colleges in his career. The Giants are in some ways his third.

“This is like D-End U here with the Giants,” the fifth-round pick said of landing with a team that already has a glut of talent and experience at the position. “I want to learn as much as I can from the guys that are here.”

He’ll get that chance. Moss, who was described by general manager Jerry Reese as a “true defensive end” when he was selected last month, said he has yet to have much contact with his new mentors. That will come on Monday after this rookie minicamp is over and the veterans return.

“I mean, JPP only has one hand and he’s still starting in this league,” Moss said on Friday, the first full day of the rookie minicamp. “I need to know how he’s doing it.”

Beyond that, Moss said he wants to absorb as much as he can from Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon, and even the less-decorated young veterans such as Romeo Okwara and Kerry Wynn.

“I’m the young grasshopper in the room,” he said. “It’s all just going to be a learning experience for me, me just picking brains and trying to see how I can make myself better, learning from their mistakes and their triumphs.”

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He knows, too, that his journey likely will start with a role on special teams. He didn’t participate much in that area while at Nebraska and Youngstown State, so it will be a new experience. But he did point out that when Pierre-Paul began his career with the Giants as a first-round pick in 2010, he played mostly special teams as a rookie.

“My goal,” Moss said, “is to do anything I can to get on the field and help the team and learn as much as I can to prefect my craft.”